Frig 110 Volt running on invertor on the road?

[airdreamers]

Has anyone thought of running their Frig on 11o using a 12 volt inverter traveling on the road. I have 300 Watts of solar panels with a Blue Sky Controller, also 2-27 Group 12volt batteries. Save propane, any thoughts.

[oldfulltimer]

Have not really given running refrigerator on 120 volts using inverter while traveling much of a thought. Have always run refrigerator on propane while traveling. We have run a slow cooker set in the sink while traveling and similarly, I have 300 watts of panels and two group 27 batteries. The slow cooker works very well and it's nice to have the trailer filled with the smells of a home cooked meal when stopping at the end of the day. To my crazy way of thinking, the crock pot heating element probably draws about the same as the refrigerator electric coil. The techies on this forum will probably have more to say about it. Try it and let us know.

[dznf0g]

Not sure which fridge you have, but my electric element is 325 watts. So you're running at a deficit already .....now add in the inefficiencies of voltage conversion , inverter, solar wiring and clouds/indirect sun angles, and I am afraid you might not get the job done.

[oldiesel]

In our previous motorhome (sob) we used a small 450 watt inverter to run the fridge on 110 while traveling and it worked very well.I prefer to travel with the valves closed on the propane bottles.While your TV is running the alternator is delivering charge to the trailer batteries so not a problem.
When you stop and shut off the engine,you will want to shut off the inverter as 325 watts load on your batteries will take them down pretty quickly. we usually would just switch the inverter off on a short stop like getting gas,a longer stop we would turn on the propane.

[SmokelessJoe]

Bill and Janice,

I have a regular residential 110v fridge by LG in my DIESEL POWERED propane free Argosy:



I run it off of a 1500 w inverter while traveling and sometimes while overnighting roadside.

Too, you can freeze packs and place them in the fridge while rolling or overnighting. This can keep the fridge cool for a surprisingly long time.

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by oldiesel

In our previous motorhome (sob) we used a small 450 watt inverter to run the fridge on 110 while traveling and it worked very well.I prefer to travel with the valves closed on the propane bottles.While your TV is running the alternator is delivering charge to the trailer batteries so not a problem.
When you stop and shut off the engine,you will want to shut off the inverter as 325 watts load on your batteries will take them down pretty quickly. we usually would just switch the inverter off on a short stop like getting gas,a longer stop we would turn on the propane.

Yeah but your Moho probably had a short run of 6 or 8 ga wire from the alt to the coach batts. OP has a long run of about 25-30 feet of 10 or 12ga. At best we get 9 or 10 amps from the alt.
I still say he's marginal on running his fridge. Another 100 watt panel and he'd be there on a sunny day, IMO.

[vinstream]

I do not like 2 way or three way frig units! The companies that sell them are more into the parts business then anything!
So I have moved to 110 frig units and think the seal and work better. I run my entire 110 volt system through my 3000 watt charger inverter. I have a 250 WH AGM battery with back up solar and lp gen. The frig unit I have when running draws 2.8 amps and cycles for 15min every other hour. My solar seams to keep up with that demand fine.

[scamp]

I think it's a great idea ,most inverters are around 90 to 93 % efficient if you have a mppt charge controller you will make aprox 10 % more power, if you have large batterie capacity and a sunny day while driving and you stop a couple of hours before sunset to allow solar panels to recharge batteries you should be good ,I have a home solar system with four times the solar power that you have and I use at least for times the power your planing(300 watts) to use, and on sunny days my batteries stay charged

[Skater]

I tried it for a couple hours, and it ran the batteries (three of them) down pretty well. I don't know exactly how much (our installed volt-meter gives unreliable readings), but I noticed the 3-stage charger went into boost mode immediately upon plugging in.

Trailer: We have three batteries, and three 70 or 75 watt solar panels on top. We have a large (1500 watt) inverter permanently mounted. However it was overcast and then rainy, so the solar likely wasn't doing much. Of course the truck is supplying some power but as other threads have discussed, it's not much.

Situation: We were on our way to the Outer Banks, which required going through a tunnel, so the propane had to be turned off. (We normally run with the propane off but on very hot days leave it on to keep the fridge active.) At our last stop before the tunnel, I shut off the propane and fired up the inverter and ran the fridge off it.

We planned to stop at a farmers market on the way, where I was going to switch back to propane. But, it was absolutely pouring rain when we did...so I was lazy and didn't put the fridge back on propane. The fridge ended up running on 120 volt power via inverter until we got to the campground, which was probably three or four hours. The up side of this is that since it was raining, it was cooler, and the fridge didn't have to work as hard.

Given our rig, that's probably the max I'd want to do. If you have a better charge line from the vehicle, or a sunny day when the solar is doing some good, you might be better off. On the other hand, you probably don't have three batteries like we do, and running them way down is hard on them. So, I'd suggest doing it for relatively short stints only, unless you've altered the 12 volt system to support it.